How does a Midwestern jazz pianist turned lawyer then cornbread baker find himself selling the Southern staple at Brooklyn’s most competitive flea market? Ask Chedbred founder Jack Sorock and he isn’t quite sure himself, but he can trace the fixation back to a bed and breakfast spot in Colorado called the Baldpate Inn where his family vacationed every summer. The culinary cornerstone of each visit was a rich, indulgent cornbread that nearly bordered on dessert and though Sorock sees this as the recipe to beat, he’d rather not try. It touts two cans of creamed corn with twice as much fat, sugar and cheddar cheese as his own recipe. But sheer determination and countless tastings led to a recipe that tastes unmistakably close to the same nostalgic blend of textures without needing a triple bypass. Read More

In the dead heat of summer (yes, we have summer in Minnesota) there’s nothing I like more than a little bit of ice cream. Of course, the preferred way is straight out of the carton, with little to no work involved. However, sometimes I get suckered out of going to the store by my sentimentality and instead head straight to the basement, where the storied Samuelson ice cream maker resides. It is old and wooden and very authentic. Don’t get me wrong–there is nothing at all romantic about ice cream-making, yet maybe something kind of biblical about the whole process. Read More

I ask people all the time what is their earliest food memory. But when I turn this question on myself it would not be a single taste, but a smell—my grandmother’s house.

My Mormor worked as maid for upper-class Swedish families during two World Wars so she knew how to ration food. Bread could be used for three days (eaten fresh on day one, toast on day two, make croutons on day three) and she taught me not to waste any part when cooking meat, pork or poultry. This waste not, want not mentality might have its roots in survival, but it’s also weaved into preparing some of the most exotic delicacies. The first time I had fugu (blowfish) in Tokyo, I started my meal with fugu sashimi, went on to have it portions of the poisonous fish baked and fried, and ended my meal with a soup made from vegetables and the blowfish’s bones.

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By Suzannah Schneider

Meet the Team

Whether it’s finding the best goat tacos in LA, spotting a well-worn vintage bag in Sweden, or interviewing the “crab man” selling seafood on a corner in Harlem, we tell stories seen from Chef Marcus Samuelsson‘s point of view. MarcusSamuelsson.com strives to create conversations about food, nutrition, culture, art, and design. We want to find Read More